Family Letter, Provo, Originally written 10/13/10

Hello all,
I've been working on this letter since Sunday and so I figure I better finish it up and send it. Which means I am deleting everything I wrote before and rewriting it.

Life is good all in all. I've barfed most of my guts up but there still seems to be enough in there to grow a baby because the doctor says the baby is doing well. Which means that its heart rate is right where it should be (150bpm at the last appointment) because that's about all the information we have about it at this point. I'll be getting an ultrasound sometime in November. And actually, the last week or so I've thrown less than half as much as usual. Plus I got some magical medicine which is the best for helping me to stop throwing up.

Brad is having a fairly easy semester, mostly because half of his classes are actually not engineering classes. This is good because he needs lots of time to work on his thesis. He's hoping to find a good job/internship for the summer here in Provo area. We are also looking at schools for him to apply to for next fall. Also, Brad has been very good at dumping the barf bucket and bringing me food in the morning so I can eat before attempting to get out of bed. Basically I can report that he's being very good to me.

I am still fitting into most of my jeans. I have a bunch of skirts, though, that don't fit at all. My jeans have a little more elasticity to them than my skirts so I think that makes a difference. I am showing, though!! Some of my shirts are really uncomfortable just because they feel tight around my stomach. My best friend Maren and I went to the DI and found some shirts for me that have an empire waist and are loose around the stomach area and these are much more comfortable (and cute!). People are finally starting to be able to tell by sight that I'm pregnant. For quite awhile there I just looked like I put on a few pounds. I'm glad to be able to finally prove to people that I really do have a reason for snacking all through Sunday School.

Some highlights of my days are going on walks with Maren and her baby Annie, reading good books, being able to rest when I need to, and having time to cook a good dinner. Maren and I started a book group with some wonderful friends/old roommates. For our first meeting we read Jane Eyre and for our second we are reading two books, The Secret Life of Bees and Charms for the Easy Life (we are all voracious readers so I think we can handle two books). I LOVE having time to read. So far The Secret Life of Bees is a wonderful book. I chose it for our group to read because it is about women in the South and I'm kind of really biased in favor of that topic. In it the girl's father punishes her by making her kneel on dry grits for hours. Dad, thanks for never using grits as a form of punishment.

Another good thing about life is that I'm starting to get an appetite for foods I did NOT want the last few months. Like pizza. Tonight we went to a business school event on campus. They had free pizza and drawing for prizes. I ate 5 pieces of pizza. TUMS are my best friend.

Love,
Amanda

PS Fun fact: According to baby site online, my baby is now the size of an avocado. Last week it was an apple, so apparently we are talking about an avocado that is bigger than an apple. Grow baby, grow!

Texas Weeks 9 & 10; Originally written 8/28/10

Dear Family,

We are home from Texas. The only thing I remember from the last two Texas weeks is that we went to the George H. W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum. Before then I didn’t know much about Bush because I was a wee lad when he was the big cheese. Regardless of your political leanings, I wish our current leaders had more humility and an attitude of service that was once common years ago.

Amanda and I wanted to surprise her family by showing up at their house early to see her brother who just came home from a mission. They were expecting us a few days later than we arrived. It took two full days to get from College Station up to Idaho, consistently going fast enough for a hefty ticket. We saw flashing lights three times and were certain that we’d been caught. Nevertheless, we were never pulled over, and the police lights did nothing more than give me McDonald’s level blood-pressure and make me momentarily reduce our speed to 5 over the limit. We stopped at Billy the Kid’s authentic “real” gravesite in New Mexico and four corners (see picture).

We were with Amanda’s family a little more than a week. Other than doing yard work and playing soccer, I went to Deseret Industries three times. The Boise DI is the best one I have been in. They have good stuff that isn’t picked through by cheap people like me. Maybe that just means they have the perfect balance of Mormons there – enough to get some good donations but not too many that do all their shopping there.

That’s the end of our bi-weekly Texas-style family emails. Now life is back to normal and you won’t receive letters from us as often. Otherwise I’d end up telling you boring things like how I discovered that our cheese slicer can also slice fingers. Check your mailboxes in a few months for our first ever Christmas letter.

Love,
Brad


Hi Y’all,

The Bush Library/Museum (we really only got to see the Museum part) had a lot of displays describing Bush’s family, military and political experience. It portrayed him as humble and self-sacrificing to his country. It seems like he had a high sense of duty that is not as common a trait among people today. We watched a 15 minute video about his life, then looked at the displays. I liked reading the letters he wrote to his parents as a young man in the Air Force. Also, the museum had a collection of every U.S. president’s signature, from Washington down to Obama. Pretty cool.

Brad and Ben have finally met. I think they bonded a bit, too, so that’s good news. Ben is the same, just better and it was so good to be with him. We’ve gotten to see Brad’s family quite a bit, but we’ll be spending some real quality time with them this upcoming weekend.

Our new apartment is great because it doesn’t have cinderblock walls. I kind of feel like it’s a real home. Our bishop is very friendly, warm, and welcoming and we actually know a few people in the ward already. Plus, my friend and old roommate Maren lives just down the street. Things are looking good.

When we were in Texas, we were considered newlyweds. Here in Provo, we are considered oldieweds (we’ve been married over a year now, that’s ancient!). Yep, marriage is pretty much old hat by now.

Love,
Amanda

Texas Weeks 7 & 8; Originally written 7/28/10

Hello people,

Best trip ever. We went to San Antonio. We went to the Riverwalk and
the Alamo. Please do not ask how long we spent at the Alamo because it
was embarassingly last minute and brief. Favorite things: Hispanic
playing the bagpipes. Oh America, you melting pot, you. Also, Chili's
all-you-can-eat soup and salad special. I found the recipe for chicken
enchilada soup and made it for dinner tonight.

We saw "Inception". Awesome. Did you like it?

Brad's folks came down this past weekend. We went to the Houston
Temple and the Johnson Space Center and Space Center Museum. It was so
cool! We saw spaceships and moon rocks and moon dirt and space suits
and I tried on a space helmet. And we got to go to Mission Control.
The real mission control. It looks exactly like it does in the movie
Apollo 13. They have a lot of memorials for those that have lost their
lives participating in the space program. It was all very neat.


Lastly, I saw a Texas longhorn. I even touched it. My life is complete.

Love you all,
Amanda


Dear family,

We had a great time in San Antonio. We looked for Lori and Rudy’s
family but did not find them there.

My parents visited us this last weekend. We went to Johnson Space
Center which is probably in my cousin Kristi’s mission. We did not see
her there, but I made new friends and my mom says I look like one of
them (see pic).

We are leaving Texas in a week and a half.

Love,
Brad

Texas Weeks 5 & 6; Originally written 7/11/2010

Dear fam,

Yesterday we went to a barbecue with the people from my work. I was expecting there to be hamburgers and hot dogs, but I was wrong. We ate dove wrapped in bacon and then there were sausages made with deer. Turns out deer tastes like pork. Lucky for us, we got to bring home some left-over sausage.

For the 3rd of July, we helped out with the ward breakfast. Before we ate there was a bike parade around the church, which we understood everyone interprets to be a race. The bishop had all the kids line up with their decorated bikes and then started telling the kids the rules, like how to go around the church parking lot to the other side. I was a little bit confused when he said “This is not a race” and then later shouted “Ready, get set, go!” All the kids started pedaling as fast as they could, except the kids in nursery that didn’t know what was going on. Their parents pushed them as they sat on their plastic fire trucks. I expect next year they’ll figure out what to do and soon will become tough competition.

I got to teach the 11-year-old primary class today. I was shocked that both of the boys knew details about the story of Samson that I didn’t know until reading the lesson last night. I guess not opening the Old Testament is more of a Utah thing. I only remember stuff at the end of the OT about robbing the Lord with tithes and turning hearts to different family members.

Hope y’all have a great two weeks. I’m going to tear up a lion.

Love,
Brad


Hello family,

I love Girl’s Camp. I have now been to Girl’s Camp in 3 states and 2 countries. I think that this was my favorite because our cabins were clean and AIR CONDITIONED! The weather was good and surprisingly there were hardly any mosquitoes. I was in charge of the crafts and helping out with my ward. One of the other ward leaders turned out to be a girl from my freshman ward at BYU! Now we are all grown up, graduated, married, and in College Station, Texas. Small Mormon world.

As you probably know, Texas is allowed to fly the state flag at the same height as the American flag. Never before have I seen so many state flags flying. Most people in other states don’t even know what their state flag looks like. At camp there were some chairs with stars on them , and the YW were excited to see Texas stars on the chairs. You know, those were just regular 5 pointed stars. They could have been any kind of star, but here in Texas, pride runs deep and those were most definitely Texas stars.

This week I got together with another young married girl in our ward. We ate a yellow watermelon that she bought from a fruit stand by the side of the road. It tasted just like red watermelon, but it was yellow. So now I’ve eaten locally grown Texas produce. A good cultural experience.

I’m getting a little bit tan. With skin cancer in my family history, this is probably not a good thing.

Love, Amanda

P.S. Yesterday we discovered that our carpet is damp. The verdict: Our air conditioning is leaking. Maintenance is on top of it so we have a giant industrial fan blowing on our carpet now. It’s still really wet, though. I’m glad we are only subleasing.

Texas Weeks 3 & 4; Originally written 6/28/2010

Dear Family,

Texas is still big. And still a republic.

This last Friday, Amanda and I went to the Houston temple for our ward temple night. We had a good time. Since our car is not in the best condition, and we were worried it wouldn’t make it there and back again, Amanda spent the day calling ward members to find some people to car-pool with. After becoming friends with the entire ward, she found us a ride. We rode with one of the counselors and his wife. I knew it was a mistake because on Sunday he gave us a speaking assignment.

Yesterday, my friend and his wife stayed the night at our place. They were in Houston looking for a house to live in while he goes to optometry school. I learned that Amanda is just as good at scrabble when there are four players as when there are two. Her score was almost as big as when she plays against only me.

For those who want to see me working, look at the picture I attached. I’m taking road sign samples down to use in a machine that tells me what color each one is and how well it can be seen at night.

Today Amanda left for girls camp (she’s an advisor to the beehive girls). Family Home Evening has never been so easy to plan. I know who is saying the opening prayer, giving the lesson, choosing the activity, and providing the treats. As head of the family I decided there would be no opening or closing song today.

I know Amanda is the favorite of the two of us so I’ve included a photo of her for y’all.

Love,
Brad




Dear Family,

I am at girls camp. I love my calling! And we had real Blue Bell ice cream – it’s a Texas thing.

Love,
Amanda (but really Brad)

Texas Weeks 1 & 2; Originally written 6/18/10

Howdy y'all!

We went to "historic downtown" Bryan (small town right next to us) and saw band with a lady playing a bow saw. She used a violin bow on the saw and it sounded like an old lady howling. She and her band started playing a song and said, "Y'all know it, join in!" and everyone on the street joined in. I didn't know the folk song but I think that now I've experienced some true Texan culture, bow saw and all.

Turns out that it rains a lot here. Remember how everything's bigger in Texas? Well, when it rains it never drizzles. It dumps and pours. The pool almost overflowed this week, but I still went swimming. Guess I'm just a pool-deprived, sun-deficient Utahn that can't get enough.

Hope everyone is well. Keep in touch so you can hear our southern accents developing.

Love, Amanda


Hello.

Yesterday morning we went to this antique car show. There were old cars on display and everyone was just sitting under their canvas canopies and eating and relaxing (which means they were waiting to get drunk later on). And they were blasting country/oldies on the speakers. It was great (see pictures).

Some of you have inquired about my research internship. If you are having a hard time falling asleep at night, don't read this part until you're ready for bed. I am studying how traffic/street signs become less reflective the longer they stay outside in the sun. Apparently signs become harder to see when they get old, and you need to replace them. So next time you're driving at night and can see a stop sign or someone's green street sign, you can thank me. I'm working hard for the American people.

This Thursday through Saturday I will be at a conference near Houston. There's going to be a Texas hold 'em tournament on Thursday night. If any of you gamblers are good at cards, I can use a few pointers so that I won't be embarrassed.

I am still waiting for my belt buckle to quadruple in size (see picture).

Love,
Brad

We Drove a Lot

We drove to Texas. It was a long drive, but we stopped to see some great sites. Moab: Arches: The Oklahoma City Temple and a tornado wind machine in Kansas:

It's pretty fantastic that our car still works. It's in the shop right now, being doctored up from the long drive down. We are happy to be in Texas. Brad has really been in the spirit of things ever since we crossed the border..
We quite like it here. I think we'll stay for a few more weeks.